KABUL, Nov 20: British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday put Afghanistan at the heart of the global `war on terror’, telling British troops their desert battles here would decide the future of world security.

Mr Blair held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the capital Kabul after flying into Britain's main base in volatile southern Afghanistan to underline the importance of the Nato-led force's fight against the Taliban.

“Here on this extraordinary piece of desert is where the future of world security in the early 21st century is going to be played out,” Mr Blair told several hundred troops at Camp Bastion in restive Helmand province.

Despite recent resistance from Taliban fighters in the south, which has cost 36 British lives this year, he said they would overcome through their `determination, courage and absolute will’. “When you defeat them, you are defeating them not just on behalf of the people of Afghanistan but our country, Britain, and the wider world,” added Mr Blair, who arrived in the cockpit of a Royal Air Force Hercules transport plane.

As troops in desert fatigues clamoured to have photographs taken with Mr Blair, Sergeant Chris Hunter from the Royal Marines told him: “I think a point that needs to be made back home is that the lads want to be here.” Mr Blair was whisked to Kabul by the Hercules and then a US Air Force Black Hawk helicopter for talks with Hamid Karzai at his presidential palace, and recommitted Britain to the Afghan leader's reform and reconstruction programme.

“We came to Afghanistan because it was obvious that the problem in Afghanistan had become a problem for the world. We have got to stay committed for our own security, not just for the sake of the Afghan people,” he told a joint news conference with Mr Karzai.

But he increased the pressure on NATO members ahead of a summit in Latvia this month, urging allies to re-engage with Afghanistan by acknowledging the progress made since the Taliban were ousted by US-led forces in late 2001.

“Now is the right time to bring into sharp focus the need to stay with the Afghans as they make their journey to progress, and rediscover in ourselves the belief and vision that took us here and that should keep us here until the job is done.” Mr Karzai highlighted progress in the conflict-scarred country's economy and said he was sure the international community would `stay with us until we are firmly on our own feet’. Asked whether Nato allies had lost focus because of the increased violence, Mr Blair accepted that recent Taliban resistance had been stronger than expected over the summer, but said Britain and the West were committed.

The prime minister praised the work of Mr Karzai's government over the last five years and contrasted his current visit with his previous trip to Afghanistan in Jan 2002 when he met officials in a disused Russian airbase hangar.

The British commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Gen David Richards, accepted that Taliban activity had increased earlier this year, but said the tide had now turned against them.

“Today there is a different atmospheric about the place. We know the Taliban are concerned and we are on the rise,” he said.

Britain has about 5,500 troops in Afghanistan -- the second-largest contingent in the 37-nation, 31,000-strong ISAF. Mr Blair later flew back to Islamabad on a military plane before transferring to a chartered British Airways jet for the flight back to Britain.—AFP